Leos International, a large scale international residential developer, has been observing the Conservative Party leadership battle with interest but has grave concerns over Rishi Sunak’s latest view on house building.
Planning Director Chris Pittock explains that whilst he understands the overwhelming desire to seek to protect the Green Belt, broad brush statements, such as Mr Sunak’s are unhelpful to the house building industry. “On the one hand we agree with his latest comments in that brownfield sites should be a key source of housing supply and we very much share that view. At LEOS, we adopt a brownfield site first approach thereby seeking to identify and regenerate under-utilised development sites to the benefit of local communities. However, to consider this as the only means of delivering housing is misplaced. Even with historical green belt reviews, Local and Central Governments have, and continue to, significantly underperform in the delivery of housing. “Instead of advancing unsubstantiated political messaging, Mr Sunak may want to consider the decision making process insofar as the level of involvement and influence of local authority politicians is concerned. Give some further thought to appropriately resourcing the Planning Inspectorate and so the dream of safeguarding of the Green Belt might not be such a distant one.”
